Justice Teresa Doherty to give lecture on Sierra Leone in Dublin tomorrow

Justice Teresa Doherty CBE, a judge from Northern Ireland who served on the Special Court for Sierra Leone, is set to give a lecture in Dublin tomorrow.

Justice Doherty, originally from Portstewart, began her legal career in private practice in Northern Ireland in the 1970s before pursuing a judicial career in Papua New Guinea.

She became a principal magistrate there in 1987 and a judge in the country’s Supreme and National courts in 1988, making her the first woman to hold high judicial office in the South Pacific.

She returned to private practice in Northern Ireland between 1998-2003 and became a Parole Commissioner in 2002.

From 2003-05, she served as a Judge of the High Court and the Court of Appeal of Sierra Leone at the request of the Commonwealth following the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In 2005, she was appointed to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

The lecture, Special Criminal Court for Sierra Leone: Jurisprudential developments in the field of women’s rights and of children’s rights, is hosted by the Irish branch of the International Law Association.

The free event takes place in TRISS, Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin (Nassau Street Entrance) tomorrow from 6pm-7pm.

If you want to join the ILA Irish branch for dinner after the lecture, contact branch secretary Patricia Conlan on patricia.conlan@ul.ie.